Folsom Lake Pictures

This page is dedicated to the pictures I’ve taken around the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area. Some are along the Pioneer Express Trail as far north as Auburn. Other pictures show items revealed at low water levels such as the remnants of the North Fork Ditch, unusual rock formations or other items of historical, geological, flora or fauna interest. Almost all of these photo, many enhanced with Instagram, have been posted in the various blogs I’ve done about history and hiking around Folsom Lake. Click on image to enlarge it.

2015 Drought Lake Levels

As the historic 2015 drought continued and the Bureau of Reclamation released unprecedented amounts of water from Folsom Lake, I routinely go down into the lake bed and take pictures. I doubt that the lake will ever get this low again for many years. The lowest point during this current drought was February 4, 2014, then the lake started to fill back up. But since I lost many of those image because of hard disk crash, I’m focused on trying to capture as many low water level pictures as possible before the big forecasted El Nino arrives in the autumn. I’ll be posting recordings and pictures.

Download Hidden History Beneath Folsom Lake, Folsom Dam to Rock Springs for free. This ebook is the first of a five part series on the historical gold rush sites that were revealed when Folsom Lake reached record low levels during the drought of 2014 – 2015. Click on the book cover to go to Smashwords ebook retailer to download.

Folsom Lake, October 31, 2015 at 15% capacity

October 4, 2015, Rose Springs pond by Dyke 5

This is, what I believe to be, Rose Springs shown on many old maps of the area. This continuous trickle of water has created a green wetland oasis in an otherwise drought parch Folsom Lake bed. Rose Springs is just east of Dyke 5. It use to drain west toward Linda Creek until the Folsom Dam Dyke 5 was built. Then they cut a drainage channel on the northern toe of Beal’s Point to drain the water away from the base of Dyke 5 into Folsom Lake to the east. See Historic Rose and Rock Springs of Granite Bay for more information.

August 22, 2015, low water levels expose land bridge to get really close to Folsom Dam.

Folsom Lake, in front of dam, September 5, 2015.

A deep hole, site of Rose Springs, is constantly filled with water that makes its way down the hill side to a shallow pond. This picture is looking south towards Beal’s Point and Dyke 5 is visible in the upper right hand corner.

Rose Springs had created a beautiful oasis on the dry lake bed of Folsom in 2015. Behind the pond rises the ridge of granite topped with lahar or a mixture of mud and smooth river cobble rock on top. It was on top of this ridge that a shaft to an old gold mine was flooded with water by the Bureau of Reclamation to see if it popped out of the hillside. None of the 2,000 gallons of water was ever visible after the test.

In early spring, as Folsom Lake receded, a child had created a small berm around the bubbling Rock Spring. You can see how the spring water trails off to the lake or originally the N.F. American River.

Water from Rose Springs meanders through the drain cut at Folsom Lake. This picture was taken in the Summer of 2015 and you can see the lake level is way off in the distance to the east. The cut allowed water from the base of Dyke 5 to drain when the lake dropped below a certain level. This little rise of land is between Beal’s Point and the ridge directly to the north of Rose Springs.

House foundation, possibly for ditch tender, on Higgin’s Point, above Natomas Ditch at Salmon Falls on South Fork American River.

Looking through foundation opening in the Mormon Island School at the Folsom Dam in the distance.